Ayis Ioannides
About
Ayis Ioannides
Through his long international activity Ayis Ioannides has conducted a wide spectrum of musical genres and has universally received high critical acclaim both as conductor and composer.
For ten years he was engaged on the conducting staff of German opera houses before taking up appointments as Chief Conductor of the Vaasa City Orchestra in Finland and as the first Artistic Director of the Cyprus State Orchestras. He initiated the establishment of the International Summer Academy of the Cyprus Youth Symphony Orchestra with the participation of internationally acclaimed teachers as well as of students from many countries from Europe, the Far East and the Americas.
Biography
Ayis Ioannides had been artistic consultant to the international Pafos Aphrodite Opera Festival throughout its 20-year long history and in 2014 he conducted the performances of Mozart’s Così fan tutte that were produced in cooperation with the organization Opera Futura Verona.
He has been teaching at the ARTE Music Academy in Nicosia since its establishment.
He has been guest conductor in many European countries as well as in Egypt, Australia and the US and has collaborated with many distinguished soloists of high international standing.
As Artistic Director and conductor of many concert and opera productions he participated frequently in the Kypria international Festival. Especially important were the highly acclaimed, pioneering production of Così fan Tutte in 1995 as well as the production in 2004 of Donizetti’s Caterina Cornaro, an event which symbolized the re-connection of Cyprus to Europe.
Ayis Ioannides was born in Nicosia, Cyprus, and studied at first medical, biological and physical sciences (Ph.D. in neurobiology) before devoting himself exclusively to music. He trained as a conductor in London at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and was trainee in the National Opera Studio, where he received valuable impulses through his contact with some of the most celebrated artists in the field of opera. He participated in master classes for conducting in Austria, England, Germany and the Netherlands. Particularly important was the experience he gained under the maestros George Hurst, Vilem Tausky, Helmut Rilling and Sergiu Celibidache.
He has composed works for orchestra, choir, voice, piano, and various chamber ensembles, as well as music for the theatre. Works of his have been performed in Austria, Cyprus, Egypt, France (International Pablo Casals Festival), Germany, Finland, Russia, Sweden and the US.
His recent work "Reminiscences", a commission by the Gewandhaus Brass Quintett has been issued by the Ensemble on CD and has been published by the firm Kornwein, Leipzig.